This Christmas, we’re serving up holiday platters for the many moods and sonic flavors of the season. We get down to some very merry Chicano rockabilly from Los Straitjackets; gather around the fire with French fiddlers in snowy Maine; imbibe “Sugar Rum Cherry” concocted by Duke Ellington; dream of a white Christmas a laBooker T. & the MGs, and hear the tale of Miles Davis‘ “Blue X-mas” from jazz composer Bob Dorough. Plus, cool Yuletide exotica from Esquivel, joyous free jazz from Rahsaan Roland Kirk and ring shouting for a New Year from the Georgia Sea Island Singers.

GEORGE JONES & SAM MOORE

November 5th, 2008

This week we are visited by two men with legendary voices, in country and soul, famous for their duets and more. From the cotton patches of East Texas, George Jones remains one of the most distinctive voices in country music or otherwise. Known as “the King of Broken Hearts,” his hits through the ’60s and ’70s remain the high water mark for country ballads. Sam Moore, formerly of Sam & Dave, recalls his early days as a gospel singer in Miami and his conversion to pop. As a ’60s “Soul Man” he recorded a string of jukebox classics before pressing through difficult times, and has emerged with a second career on his own.